Baselworld 2014 doesn’t officially open until tomorrow, but Rolex has already announced that they’ve FINALLY created at “Pepsi” read and blue bezel GMT Master II in the Cerachrom bezel (reference 116719 BLRO):

Ever since Rolex released the first “super case” Rolex sport watch with a Cerachrom bezel (the all-gold Rolex GMT Master II 116718 LN which debuted at Baselworld in April of 2005) Rolex fans have been clamoring to get a red and blue Cerachrom bezel GMT Master II. The problem is (as I’ve written about previously) red is an extremely difficult color to reproduce in ceramic, and doing two colors on one ceramic bezel as also no small feat (the process used is patented by Rolex). Last year, we saw the first bi-color Cerachrom bezel in the 116710BLNR (black and blue). I think we all knew it was just a matter of time until the classic, historical red and blue bezel GMT Master II returned to the Rolex catalog.

There is however one “gotcha” – the new 116719 BLRO is white gold, not stainless steel. No pricing has been released, but my guess would be this model will retail in the neighborhood of ~$40,000.00 – only about 34k more than I paid for my Pepsi bezel GMT Master II roughly six years ago….ouch. If I were a betting man, I’d say the odds are good that this time next year we’ll see a stainless steel version released. Until then, if you want to be the first kid on the block with a “Pepsi” Cerachrom GMT Master II, it’ll cost ya.